Previewing the ACC Coastal Division

In the Coastal Division it seems that Miami and North Carolina are the frontrunners to make it to the championship game. But, they are not without their share of problems. The Heels lost 2 running backs and 2 wide receivers to the NFL and that isn’t easy to replace. They were a deceiving 8-4 last year with few quality wins. Can they sustain these losses and remain in the upper tier of the division? Miami, looks strong on paper but, and it’s a big but, is QB D’Erik King healthy and fully recovered from a knee injury suffered in the bowl game. If he is injured again, that would be devastating to the Canes.

The rest of the division is a mixture of haves and have-nots which will be sorted out as the season rolls on. Virginia Tech is probably the best of the bunch but they have issues, one being, the distraction that comes with trying to save Coach Justin Fuente’s job. He is on the hot seat after 5 mostly uneventful years in Blacksburg and you never know how a team will react to that kind of situation. Pittsburgh is , well Pittsburgh, sometimes good, sometimes bad and always around a .500 season. Much the same can be said about Virginia. The Cavaliers will probably pull off an upset of someone and then lose to a team they should beat. Such is the case of so many of these teams in the ACC.

Then you have Georgia Tech and Duke. Both have had their moments in recent years but have fallen on hard times. The Yellowjackets have a good offense and could be improved but their schedule is a bear. Meanwhile, the Blue Devils, are very well coached by the veteran, David Cutcliffe, and when he has a good QB they can be a handful. But losing seasons in three of the past years is a trend that is unsettling to say the least and Duke football might become just something to pass the time until basketball season starts up which has been the case too many times in the past.

Let’s take a deeper look into each team.